The Springfield City Council on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted in favor of moving a package of proposed medical marijuana zoning regulations to the next step, but the city is still far from having finalized local rules on the books.

Nine of the 10 aldermen voted in support of an ordinance that asks the Springfield Planning and Zoning Commission to consider marijuana regulations for Springfield, hold a public hearing and ultimately make recommendations back to city officials.

Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen voted “present.”

“We’re going to have plenty of time to bring this back and discuss how we want it to look,” Ward 6 Ald. Cory Jobe said.

The council’s action followed last week’s release of two maps that show where in Springfield medical cannabis cultivation centers and dispensaries could be located, based on the state law that took effect this year.

The law stipulates that cultivation centers cannot be within 2,500 feet of a school or day care provider, and that dispensaries cannot be within 1,000 feet of either of those types of facilities. According to the maps, which were prepared by the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission, the areas of the city where cultivation centers and dispensaries could go are rather limited because of the prevalence of schools and day care centers throughout Springfield.

According to the map, a several-block sliver of downtown could be eligible for a dispensary.

Local lobbyist and developer Chris Stone said last week he’s working with a group of investors who plan to apply with the state to bring a medical marijuana dispensary to Springfield. The group is eyeing a specific location, but Stone doesn’t plan to divulge who he’s working with or the location until the application has been submitted.

The city council will need to act on the proposed zoning regulations before they’re finalized, after the zoning commission has conducted a hearing and made its recommendations. City officials expect future council action could be months away.

In other business Tuesday, the council heard a presentation from City Water, Light and Power chief utilities engineer Eric Hobbie about the city-owned utility’s finances for the current fiscal year through the end of June.

The fiscal year began March 1, and a harsh winter saw colder temperatures lingering into the spring, leading to additional revenue from customers heating their homes.

For the four-month period ending in June, CWLP drew in more than $70 million in retail power sales and $7.35 million in wholesale power sales, putting those revenues over the projected amount in the budget by 2 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

But a cooler July and early August is likely to draw that down. The utility’s financials for July will be finalized next month. If the current trends continue and the utility ends the fiscal year below the required debt-coverage ratio, it could result in the second technical default in four years.

“We’re trying to give everyone a heads-up here,” Hobbie said. “Knowing what July was like, knowing what August started like, we’ve got some concerns.”

Officials declared a technical default in 2012, and then proposed a series of rate hikes for customers.

The second technical default in four years could result in the cancellation of a line of credit, and the electric fund, which has negative cash-on-hand, relies on credit to pay bills, Hobbie said.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year proposed sweeping changes to cut carbon emissions from existing power plants. Compliance with those new regulations for CWLP would likely require millions of dollars of investment in the plant, Hobbie said.

“We’re currently approaching a make-or-break decision,” he said.

Jobe asked Hobbie if he could present some options for stabilizing the utility’s financial situation.

“This is not a pretty picture that you’re painting out there,” Jobe said.

In other business, the council approved the extension of the city’s enterprise zone, which provides sales and property tax breaks to developers in certain economically depressed areas of Springfield, through July 1, 2016. The enterprise zone was slated to expire at the end of this year.

The council also OK’d an ordinance accepting a grant from the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for $424,266 that requires a local match. The money is through the Local Tourism and Convention Bureau Grant program, and Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin suggested some of it could go toward the planned 2015 Abraham Lincoln funeral re-enactment in Springfield.